Truth Be Told
by NekoKittyKat
Summary: Mystique is planning something having figured out what Xavier and Magneto are really up to and to get her boys back she finds a girl with a past that one of the BoM boys shares and would rather forget. (AU and OCs) *Completed*
1. A Whirlwind of Change

A/N: Take the time to read it, it's intriguing! (Or so I hope)  
  
Chapter One: A Whirlwind of Change  
  
The setting sun tinted the back of the high school pink and washed the green field that was fenced in from the golden plain with the after rays of the sun. There was nothing but stillness in the air, not the whistle of the wind or the chirps of any birds. The weather was cooling from the scorching heat of summer that had been re-laced with returning to school, to the rut of doing the same thing day after day. I hate it! I hate this... this life that's suppose to belong to me. Once it got dark I was going to fly away from here and hopefully take myself too high to breath and be able to join the stars that dotted the night sky making the plain black pure beauty. I could really fly away too, cause I'm a mutant. I control wind currents from a gentle breeze to a raging tornado. Riding wind currents is something else I can do, and that's how I plan to get out of here.  
  
Most might think I'm being drastic, but my mother had left me taking my older brother, Dominic, when I was five leaving me with my father. I was taken away from him by child services and since they couldn't find my mother I was put in a foster home and that's where I've been. They're nice people, loving people, but people who don't understand me. I was close to my brother, I loved him, I looked up to him, and my role model was taken away. It's not for my past I cry at night, it's for him cause I lost him, like the sky looses the stars at night. Except he won't be coming back.  
  
From my pocket I drew a picture, my only picture, his first grade school picture. He hadn't known it was picture day, or he would've dressed nicer. Mom and Dad didn't care how we looked. His dark chocolate brown hair is sticking all over the place, he has a goofy smile on his face, and his dark brown eyes are shining as if right at me. I remember his smile the most, he couldn't fake a smile and each one of his was genuine and I loved him as much as a little sister can love her big brother. Time to say goodbye.  
  
A wind stirred at my command, I held my hand out holding the picture tightly and it whipped from the force. I was telling my hand to let go but my body wouldn't comply and I stood there for five minutes gathering up the courage to let something go. Slowly my fingers loosened their hold and the wind carried it off into the field. It twisted and flipped across the waves of golden grass and I turned away, the wind stopping and my eyes `defogged'. Whenever I used my powers a white frost glazed over my eyes sometimes if I use enough to the point they're pure white. It causes strain on my eyes like crossing them does except five times as bad.  
  
I turned to walk to the middle of the football field for no reason, the sprinklers having soaked the grass the ground was spongy and with each step drew water from the soil's depth. The sun was setting so slowly! I wanted to be able to fly off and to who knows where but if I didn't wait there were so many possibilities, for all I knew I'd be shot out of the sky!  
  
"Are you sure you don't want to take this with you?" I turned to the voice to see Alice, my foster mother, holding the picture I'd just blown off. They were ashamed of my powers and didn't seem to understand how crucial it was for me to gain control over them, being able to create a hurricane with gaining nothing but a headache or sore eyes was a pretty dangerous thing. Winds if they were fast enough could send a piece of straw through a brick wall I'd been told. I'd never been able to get the wind strong enough.  
  
"No, I don't. As you say I have to let go of my past and move on." I paused and turned back around unaware of `Alice' changing form behind me. "I'll be out of your guy's way soon so you can continue raising the normal foster kids since I'm nothing but a shame, an out cast, a freak... a mutant."  
  
"Ah, but you're so much more." I spun to the new voice and faced a lady with blue skin, red hair, and yellow eyes. She was smiling coyly at me and I couldn't help put shutter. "You are a mutant, but so much more. You control the winds and they can do much. Tornadoes, hurricanes, so much can be done with your power. Off shore tornadoes can create twisters of water, trees can be torn from their roots, all this power is yours." She looked at me with eyes that resembled a feline studying it's prey and I immediately went to a defensive state.  
  
"Who are you?" I asked stepping back and a breeze began to cyclone around me in my nervousness. "What do you want?"  
  
"I am a friend to all mutants and I want to help you, Cami."  
  
"I don't want your help." I store at her with dark chocolate brown eyes that started to glaze over and my shoulder length, light brown hair started to whip in the wind as it picked up. "I can take care of myself!"  
  
"That's what your brother thought too."  
  
I froze. Dominic was out there somewhere, alive and well not gone like the stars at day only never to return?  
  
"But he ended up needing my help, to help him gain control, I found a little picture of you in his room." She held out in her free hand a picture, crumpled and worn, of me on one of those few winter days I'd enjoyed. We had been sledding and me, being the child I was, insisted on having my hot chocolate outside. My nose and ears were red but I looked happy and content. I forgot what feeling like that was like. "I told him I'd try my hardest to find you and it took a lot of searching. Please, Cami, come with me, you can live with your brother and others with abilities and I'll not bother you for a long time."  
  
It was turning into a pretty good deal. I felt like I was being recruited and was wondering what she'd bother me about but I didn't ask. I wanted to be with my brother again. I know it'd been years but if he was looking for me and this blue lady would help bring us back together I was willing to do it If worst came to worst I could run, there was never ever anything holding me down.  
  
"Take me to him," was all I said that would seal my fate.  
  
"Certainly, but please don't tell him about me coming to find you, he wanted so much to find you himself so I would appreciate if you didn't say anything." She put an arm around my shoulders and I didn't like her smile like she'd just won the jackpot at the track. "I see I caught you when you were ready to leave," she placed the picture back in my hand, "I've made arrangements for you to fly to Bayville where your new home will be with me in my private jet."  
  
"Private jet?" I asked blinking.  
  
"Oh yes, I'll be getting off in Pennsylvania put you'll be taken all the way to New York where I'll make arrangements for you to be taken to the new boarding house. Come with me now," she let go of me and started to walk off the field shifting to a woman with long wavy red hair and fair skin. Suddenly she looked to be in her mid to late twenties. "You like?" She sounded more chipper and younger as she turned. "You'd be surprised how many rich men are interested in a woman half their age. Just have to know where to look."  
  
So she had married into money, but I couldn't help but wonder what she'd call on me for the future. I followed her anyway as the sun began to give way to the dark unknowingly recruiting myself into a maturing war.  
  
~  
  
"Irene?" I looked through the curtain that separated the back of the plane from the passenger area where Whirlwind sat doodling on a note pad. "Yes, Cami Petro is here with me, her powers are a fine addition to our little team if we cannot find a home for both her and Avalanche."  
  
"Raven," Irene said on the other end of the phone, "I doubt either will want to go into another foster home together or not. Perhaps it is time to tell your four little misfits about what you're doing."  
  
"No, Irene, I can't. You are doing a wonderful job watching and guiding the eight who've stayed with us, but Lance, Pietro, Todd, and Fred are not ones to take up charity. As Risty I keep asking them how they are doing and they won't answer." She would never admit that she was worried and cared for those misfit delinquents. "I'm hoping Cami will clue me into how they are doing."  
  
"You've been spending too much time as a teen, Raven."  
  
"Don't I know it, how are the eight doing?" She looked out the window as she asked. She had started a little known adoption agency for mutants and personally made sure each young mutant she found that had been abandoned got a good home. Eight had wanted to stay and help and Irene looked after them, amazingly the woman was still a live living with TNT, Techno, Electro, Regulator, Mimic, Pixie, Chameleon, and Ivy. They were much more behaved than the ones Mystique had taken care of when she was still in an alliance with Magneto, but helping them get better control of their powers had taken a lot of time and patience and house repair.  
  
"They're doing well, Keith is having some difficulty at school, he punched another boy out who'd made fun of his gloves. That boy is so rebellious it's still hard getting to understand that he can't just go around electrocuting people." There was a pause. "Oh, and Jordan made the basketball team, I'm not sure if he's influencing the ball with his power, but it makes him happy and keeps him out of trouble. Angela's boyfriend broke up with her. Lily and Makenzie are trying to comfort her while Jewels opinion is get over it, so things are pretty much the same."  
  
"Sounds like you're doing well, I have a feeling that you should relocate to Bayville soon. That's when I'll tell Lance and the others, I promise Irene."  
  
"I'll let you go now, you should talk with Cami and I have to go settle a dispute about exploding homework."  
  
"I'll let you go and not ask, good bye, Irene." Mystique hung up the phone and walked to her seat next to the young mutant. The sixteen-year-old was looking contently out the window and Mystique couldn't help but smile when she saw what the girl was doing. Dark brown eyes were glazed over in concentration and through the window the clouds moved an obvious wind slicing through the fluff to create patterns. "You've got pretty fair control of your powers, Cami."  
  
"It ain't anything," Cami replied blinking out of her state and the cloud cutting breeze stopped. "Been doing it since I was eleven, and whenever I got irritated the wind started to pick up. It was a while till I realized it wasn't just an odd coincidence."  
  
"I'd like you to tell me how your brother and the others are living, Cami, I haven't been around, but trust me it's for their own good, and have money if they need it and even a house." She'd been using it as `Risty's House', but Risty could always go away, she didn't really like being her anyway. Reliving her teen years was not something she wanted to do.  
  
"I'm a little, ok a lot, confused about all this. You don't want them to know you're around and yet you're still taking care of them?"  
  
"Not really, I needed time to figure things out and I'm not sure if they're ready for me back."  
  
"Aw, taken it slow." She suddenly pressed the button that dropped the back of her seat stretching her arms and putting the hood of her royal blood sweatshirt up so it cast a shadow on her face. "I'm gonna take a nap, could ya wake me before you get off?"  
  
"Of course, Whirlwind."  
  
"And one more think, why are you calling me Whirlwind?"  
  
"It describes your power, doesn't it?" I simply replied. She pondered it a moment then shrugged closing her eyes and drifting to sleep.  
  
~~A/N: Yes, I know what you all are thinking because I am psychic (no really, I am) where the heck did Lance get a little sister from? Well, I have the story and just need to type it up, I'm gonna say if I get six people wanting me to continue, or I damn well please to, you'll know the story and yes, it does make sense. So here are the questions future chapters will answer: What is Mystique up to? Who are these new eight? Where the hell did Lance get a little sister? And Has Neko finally lost it?  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original mutants. 


	2. Killer Sofa Bed

Chapter Two: Killer Sofa Bed!  
  
"Come on, Toad, I promise I'll catch you!" Fred held his arms out and looked up the tree at Todd. It was Sunday afternoon and Todd had gone up the tree after a cat, unfortunately the cat wasn't really stuck and now it was the Toad who was stuck up the large maple tree on just about the highest branch holding on for his dear life.  
  
"No you won't, Fred, I just know it," Todd yelled down hanging on to the branch with his legs and arms.  
  
"Aw, come on, you're being a pussy!" Pietro yelled from the ground crossing his arms and glaring up at the `tree frog'.  
  
"Am not." A moment of silence as we tried to decide what we were going to do. "Guys."  
  
"Yeah, Toad," I said craning my neck to look up at him.  
  
"I just realized something!"  
  
"And that would be?"  
  
"I'm afraid of heights!" Suddenly he swung to the side and only managed to keep hold of the branch with his right leg and arm.  
  
"Shouldn't you have told us that before you went up the tree?" Pietro cocked his head to the side looking questionly at Todd. "Come on, Todd, just let go. You get thrown around so much and beat up I'm surprised that you are scared of falling." He started to tap his foot at super speed making it look like his foot was missing it was moving so fast.  
  
"Fine, fine, someone just catch me." Todd squeezed his eyes shut and let go of the branch both Pietro and Fred prepared to catch him.  
  
"Uh, excuse me," a voice behind us spoke up and Fred and I turned toward it leaving Pietro to catch Todd. Pietro tried but ended up only breaking Todd's fall.  
  
"Ouch, yo, what happened to catching me?" Todd flipped to his feet and Pietro immediately stood up by him but I was too busy looking the owner of the voice over.  
  
"Uh, can we help you?" She looked so familiar, I knew those brown eyes from somewhere and I knew I'd seen the face before but couldn't quite place it.  
  
"Oh, hello there." And Pietro had recovered from the falling Toad. "May I ask your name and how may I be of service to you?" He was at the girl's side almost instantly and put an arm around her shoulder looking her over.  
  
"I'm Cami." She slipped away from him and looked around the group nervously. The minute she said Cami my breath caught in my throat and I knew just who she was. "I'm looking for Dominic."  
  
"Well, I'm sorry there isn't a Dominic he..." I shoved Pietro to the side getting a startled yelp out of him and just stood in front of her smiling until she smiled back and jumped on me wrapping her arms tightly around my neck.  
  
"Did I hit my head?" Todd asked Fred, as they all looked confused. "Who's the chic and what she doin' trying to kill Lance?"  
  
"Oh yeah, it's Lance now My... Mary, told me, she's the lady who found me a told me where I'd find you, she used to work at the adoption agency and was able to search you down after I asked." I wasn't sure but she might have been lying, probably was but did it matter? I had my little sister back after ten or eleven years. I couldn't even remember anymore! She let go of me and stood in facing me a little shorter than Pietro but taller than Todd, she seemed to be in good shape and was smiling at me. "I think Lance fits you better anyway."  
  
"Me too, shrimp." I ruffled her light brown hair and she ducked away as she always used to and straightened her hair.  
  
"May I just ask WHAT-THE-HELL-IS-GOING-ON?" snapped Pietro looking directly at me. Todd and Fred nodded and I rubbed the back of my neck with an apologetic smile.  
  
"Guys, this is my sister Cami, I never told you about her because I had no clue where she was and well we were sort of dragged apart so remembering hurt." There I had said it, I had confessed a feeling now they couldn't call me a heartless, emotionless bastard or anything anymore. "Cami, this is Pietro, Fred, and Todd."  
  
"Hi ya," she let the duffel bag on he shoulder fall to the floor and offered her hand to each. Fred and Todd immediately took to her, but Pietro was a little wary and for a split second hesitated before shaking her hand.  
  
"Oh, Fred," Todd suddenly said turning to the much larger teen, "thank you so much for catching me, I really appreciated it, yo."  
  
"At least you got out of the tree," I pointed out with a shrug. "So, Cami, got anywhere to stay."  
  
"Sort of planning on here, but I can always find somewhere."  
  
"You can have the sofa bed," I told her. "Come on guys, let's go see if there's anything fit to eat." Pietro ran into the house at top speed and my sister stopped and blinked.  
  
As usual there wasn't big surprise in this dump. Cami seemed a little fascinated with our living conditions, probably wonder how anyone could live here. She had enough money for us to go to the new all you can eat buffet, didn't really know where she got it, but insisted we go since we were giving up our couch. Wait till she saw the couch.  
  
(A/N: after dinner since we all know they eventually got kicked out. For you that are interested that was after Todd tried to start a food fight, Fred ate the place half out, and Pietro continued eyeing Cami suspiciously,)  
  
"Ok, Fred, give me a hand with the couch, no don't pull it apart!" I genuinely hated this sofa bed, it was rusty and hard to pull out and ate people on occasion. With a final creak the hinges gave way snapping out and hitting Fred in the leg just as I jumped out of the way. "Ok, that enough, Fred you bleeding?"  
  
"A bit, nothing bad, this thing is a death trap."  
  
"You've no idea how comforting that is to me," Cami replied rolling her eyes. "I'm going to sleep on a death trap, yay!"  
  
Todd snickered standing in the door way next to her.  
  
"Ain't that exciting?"  
  
"Oh yeah, yell if you need any help," Todd then turned and headed upstairs.  
  
"Yeah, we'll come pry you out." Fred said smiling at her lightly, only person I was afraid wouldn't accept her was Pietro, I don't know why.  
  
"Hmm, I want to stay up and catch up with you, but we have school tomorrow." She'd shown us the schedule and this `Mary' seemed to have taken very good care of her. "I'll help you with your schedule and introduce you to Kitty." She just nodded and sat on the bed like it was full of poisonous snakes before she lied down and pulled the blanket around her. As I turned to go to my room I almost expected my mother to get me that night and say we were going on an adventure, one that would get me landed in a foster home and her dead. I shook the thoughts out of my head and just continued on my way. Cami was here now and nothing was going to go wrong.  
  
~  
  
"You'll-soon-find-that-all-he-talks-about-is-Kitty-anymore." I rushed into the living room and sat on the side of the `death trap' making sure Lance didn't see me. He'd already ignored us because of Kitty and Cami could end up one of two things: another reason for him to not spend time with us his friends, or ignored with the rest of us. "Kitty-this, Kitty-that, gets-annoying-after-a-while."  
  
"I can imagine," I heard her move and sit up. "What's this Kitty like?"  
  
"Why should I tell you?"  
  
"Ok, then why are you here?"  
  
"I know there is no `Mary', I know you're lying and I want to know what else you're lying about." I said it at normal speed so she'd get the pointed that I didn't want to be messed around with.  
  
"I'm keeping a promise," she replied and I was able to see her silhouette in the dark. "I'm not going to break it just because I was told I was lying, I admit I am, but just trust me ok?"  
  
"You think I trust anyone? Well, there's a few people but the person who matters in this world is me." I pointed to myself to emphasize the point. "And if you're putting me or Todd or Fred or any of my friends in danger you've got to go!"  
  
"Relax, Pietro." Oh my god, she had said it correctly. "I'm just here because I want to be able to be with the one person who ever mattered in my pitiful little life, you talk about yourself and friends, well before Mary found me I was planning on flying up so high I couldn't breath anymore. Then I found out that Dom... Lance was still alive and that someone knew where he was. You think I'm going to put him or anyone else in danger?"  
  
"I suppose not, but just remember that I'm- ack!" At that moment the bed decided to fold up on the both of us. Since we'd both been at the head of the bed it clamped down on us unexpectedly and for some odd reason my first reaction was to cover our heads, which didn't help much.  
  
"Ow, this is a death trap." Cami muttered trying to wriggle out of the bed. "TODD! DOES THE OFFER FOR HELP STILL STAND?" No answer, nothing, and I was TRAPPED IN A SOFA BED! "This is not comfortable."  
  
"No shit." The light flickered on and I could make out Lance, since the shadow was too small to be Fred and too big to be Todd. "Hi, we were talking and this damn thing ATE US!"  
  
"Yep, not a good start."  
  
"How did I guess this was going to happen?" Lance groaned trying to get the bed unstuck. We really did need new furniture, big time. "Never mind." With a final yank Cami and I were flung free and sprawled onto the bed. I was immediately on the farthest wall from the sofa and Cami was hiding behind Lance from it.  
  
"I think the floor will be fine to sleep on." Cami said peeking out from behind Lance and I swear I got a glimpse of them as children, Lance looking angry at something and Cami scared. "Just fine."  
  
X(=scene switch)  
  
"All righty then, I've got," Cami looked around the hall Lance having gotten talking to Kitty for `just a moment' that ended up to be five minutes of our ten minute break and Cami still had to find her next class, "CHOIR?" She looked at me frantically, it's amazing how being eaten by a sofa bed can make come together. I was still suspicious though. "I do not sing!"  
  
"Then skip it." I shrugged.  
  
"I can do that?"  
  
"Who's stopping you?"  
  
"My conscious. Can you be held back for not passing Choir?"  
  
"Nah, if you don't pass one of the important classes yeah, but other than that no. I've got Art and haven't been to it more than once a week. When I feel like it, maybe twice at the most." I looked around as she stuffed the schedule into her pocket. "So we'll stir up some trouble."  
  
"Sounds good to me." She paused and then rolled her eyes, "I see why you don't like that Kitty girl." An evil smile crept across her lips and she grabbed my wrist and soon we stood down the hall from where she was talking to Lance. "She'll be our first target, how about?"  
  
"And just what are you going to do?" The bell rang at Kitty smiled and waved at Lance and started to her class holding a stack of papers.  
  
"This." Around her a wind started to pick up and I noticed Cami's eyes glaze over. She'd told us what she did but I'd never actually seen it happen. She flicked her wrist and the wind around Kitty picked up enough to snag the papers from her and started to fly them across the hall.  
  
Lance was looking confused at the scene. "Pietro!" He yelled and looked back rather confused to see me standing there instead of creating the miniature tornado. "What... Cami!" He started to run up to us and the wind stopped.  
  
"What? What did I do?" She smiled innocently and Kitty turned around to glare at us then look confused at the new girl.  
  
"You aren't suppose to..." But we were gone in a matter of seconds. No one was around and Cami and I started to run. He'd get us at home for sure.  
  
I was ahead, naturally, and not going full speed. I stole a glance back and noticed lance was no longer after us, probably decided to go to class like a good little boy. I swear after he had that little experiment with trying to be an X-men he became different, and no longer Lance. For one he never skipped class anymore. "Ok, we're safe."  
  
Cami tried to stop and ended up sliding in to me. "Opps, sorry." She sprang up and held out her hand to pull me up. Then she looked behind her. "I bet she'll be late for class now."  
  
"Of course." A flyer of bright orange paper caught my eye and I rushed over to read it after spotting the word `basketball'. "Oh, not-this-again-every-year-the-principals-bet-on-which-team-is-better-and-at-the-start-of-the-season-we-always-have-to-play-against-this-school. Who-cares-they're-in-Pennsylvania!" I looked back at Cami who was blinking trying to figure out what I had said in the second or so I'd said it.  
  
"Um, ok." She nodded pretending to understand and read the flyer. "Hmm... sounds like fun." She shrugged when I looked at her in disbelief. "Well it does, shut up, don't look at me like that." She slouched against the wall and misjudged or something and her head whacked on the wall. "Ow."  
  
"Maybe we should go, you need to meet the X-geeks sometime."  
  
(A/N: I just wanted them to play someone in Pennsylvania so I could intro the rest of whatever Mystique's team is called. And we know they aren't going to be any little goody goddies!) 


	3. Basketball and Long Snackbar lines

Chapter Three  
  
I looked at the bleachers and grinned slyly, this was the perfect opportunity to get some serious coin. I had to tell Lance I'd just take the cash and give the rest back. He had become no fun; Cami on the other hand was like him when he first came into the Brotherhood. Except she was willing to help with my plots to snag cash. It was Friday and the new gym was full of people to see the game of Bayville, New York high school play against Riverside, Pennsylvania high school (A/N: no, I don't know if that's an actual city in Pennsylvania.). Both bands there and the pep squad along with other school spirit freaks.  
  
Over the week Cami seemed to be able to come up with a lot of cash for food and minor repairs, like the oven didn't catch on fire at a certain degree and the lock on the bathroom worked.  
  
"Yo, Todd, come on, we're gonna go get some hot dogs!" Fred waved for me to come over and I hopped through the crowd over to where Cami and Fred were waiting. Pietro was on the basketball team since he enjoyed it and Lance was probably trying to still find a parking spot. Walking through a crowd was Fred was like walking behind Moses partin' the Red Sea.  
  
"Ah, long line. Hope they aren't out by the time we get up there." Cami leaned against Fred glaring at the person in front of us. "Think ya can wait guys?"  
  
"Yeah, no sweat yo." We stood there for a while and I eavesdrop on the people behind us. One of the girls was wearing blue tinted sunglasses, the other had on a baggy red sweatshirt, and they were with a guy with black gloves and a yellow vest on.  
  
"Too bad you couldn't just give the vending machine a little zap, Keith," the girl with the sweatshirt mumbled, "this line is horrible and I'm too hungry to wait."  
  
"Just be patient, ok Mak? We can wait in a line for a few moments." The line inched forward. "See? We're one more person closer to the front. Not like..."  
  
"Would you two shut up? You might slip then where'd we be?" The glasses girl snapped probably glaring through blue shades. They were silent for a moment and the line started to move slowly up. Move stop, move stop. Why did we want hot dogs in the first place?  
  
"Hey, ain't that one of those X-people Irene showed us?" Keith said and through the corner of my eye I could see none other than Miss Perfect Jean Grey making her way through the crowd.  
  
"What happened to being discreet?" Mak asked.  
  
"Screw it, you wait in line, Electro and I are gonna go follow her." The other girl's voice had dropped so I had to struggle to hear and I saw her and the boy peal away from the line and follow Jean through the crowd. Now this was interesting.  
  
"Hey, Fred, Cami and I are going to go see if we can find Lance," I said grabbing Cami's arm and pulled her into the crowd as she handed Fred the money realizing I wasn't giving her a choice.  
  
"Jeez, Todd, Lance is a big boy he can find us."  
  
"I know, but we're doing a little surveillance." I pointed ahead of us at the two who had left the line. "For some reason they're interested in Jean and I want to know why."  
  
"All righty then, I haven't had a chance to meet the X-men really anyway." We weaved through the crowds and followed the two following Jean who eventually met up with Scott and Kurt and then outside we were.  
  
"I KNEW IT!" Jean yelled once we were outside in an area where we couldn't be seen. "Why are you following me?" Scott and Kurt looked like her little bodyguards.  
  
"Ask them, yo," I told her crossing my arms.  
  
"Why were you following us?" The blue female version of shades snapped.  
  
"Probably cause we were following her." Keith answered with a shrug. He grabbed the yellow band around his wrists and pulled the glove off, and I saw why he wore gloves. Sparks of electricity jumped from his hand and when he took the other glove off the sparks began to jump from one hand to the other. "Now we can do this hard or easy. One, who are you guys?" He looked over at Cami and I. "And two do you three have any idea what Xavier is really up to?"  
  
I blinked not really sure what he was talking about and was about to answer who I was when the girl with the shades took them off and looked directly at Jean before putting them back on. Ok, so she didn't have any eye-threatening thing that forced her to wear shades.  
  
"Don't bother, Electro, he has already influenced his minds too much for me to disrupt it with her power. Weak telepathy, telekinetic powers limited. You're really pathetic you know that Jean Grey?"  
  
"How do you know who I am."  
  
"I'm called Mimic," Mimic tapped her temple, "and now you're powers are all copied to me temporarily."  
  
"A less deadly version of Rogue?" Scott asked.  
  
"Apparently," Kurt muttered.  
  
"Electro, meet Whirlwind and Toad," Mimic turned to us and smiled, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend comes to mind." She pointed at the other three, "You can fry them."  
  
"Get back inside," Scott yelled as a ball of electricity began to form in Electro's hands, "they won't bother a confrontation there!" Kurt grabbed his two teammates and teleported away just as the ball of energy hit where they were.  
  
"Aw, they ain't no fun." Electro put his gloves back on and turned to Cami and I. "Jewels, tell the others what happened and tell them to watch out for the red shades guy, he looked like he meant business."  
  
"Xavier's hold on him was pretty powerful too." Jewels, or Mimic, closed her eyes for a moment,, or at least I think she did considering her clamed look that I usually see Jean use when using her powers. "With that weaklings power I can't pry the hold off of any of them, but if I copied Xavier's himself I might be able to."  
  
"Xavier's hold?" I blinked a couple times.  
  
"Yes, Toad, I suppose there's no use not telling you now." Out of the shadows stepped a pretty woman in her mid to late twenties who then slowly became the lady who I thought, and honestly hoping, was gone Mystique.  
  
~  
  
"Please, Todd, don't panic," Mystique soothed to the scruffy boy, I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms over my chest as Jewels sat on a table that was near by and Whirlwind stood there looking at Toad. "Xavier and Magneto are actually in an alliance, they plan to have human mutant coexistence but with mutants as the leaders, the superiors. I thought that Xavier meant to help his students and that Magneto would provide a place in this world for them, but neither is doing that. Ever since I left I've been finding young mutants that were rejected or just don't know what to do and tried to find homes for them or patch up the ones they had. A few like Keith and Jewels here weren't accepted anywhere and wanted to help so I've had them with my friend Irene, training only until they know how to control their powers and other than that letting them be normal teenagers. I left you four a lone because I didn't think you were ready for my new out look on the situation, I was  
hoping to delay a little longer but I don't think that's possible now."  
  
"How do I know any of this is true?" Todd asked standing up. "After all you've done to us."  
  
"That was before I knew Xavier had mental control over my son and to be honest I was rough with you boys so that you'd be use to life cause I didn't want you to grow up in a sugar coated house like those X-men."  
  
"But..."  
  
"Todd," Cami stepped up to him and looked up at Mystique, "let's give her a chance, she is after one the one who brought me to you guys and was supplying me with food money. Plus living a normal life sounds great."  
  
"I..." He paused and then shrugged. "Why not, you're the Boss Lady, yo, and the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Jewels smirked at the quote.  
  
"Don't tell the other boys, though, just say you met them," she gestured to Jewels and I, "in the snack line or something."  
  
"Sure thing, Boss Lady."  
  
Mystique smiled at him and the turned back into the woman she lived as far as we knew and walked off into the shadows and back into the game.  
  
"I'm Keith by the way," I stepped up to the frog-boy and offered my hand, "don't worry, though rubber gloves I can't shock anyone or anything." He took my hand and shook it. I noticed that he had slightly webbed fingers. "And this is Jewels."  
  
"I'm Cami," Whirlwind shook my hand and then shook Jewel's.  
  
"I'm Todd, or the Toad."  
  
"I like the name Todd, come on," Jewels turned on her heels, "I have a licorice rope waiting for me." She strode into the gym and I followed.  
  
"So..." I started once out of earshot.  
  
"I still have Ms. Grey's power, Keith, I know what you're thinking and they seem to be good kids. Lot's of vandalizing but you did take out that power line that one time."  
  
"It was thew power line's fault," I replied. I looked on the court in time to see Jordan toss the ball to the hoop from the three-point line and I knew he was using his telekinesis to gradually sink it into the basket. Was it fair? No, but it wasn't fair that we couldn't be normal. I scratched my gloved hand absently.  
  
One day, Keith, I looked over at Jewels who smiled at me, one day we can be accepted and won't have to be as secretive.   
  
I sighed and smiled lightly knowing, or hoping, she was right. I saw Angela in her cheerleading outfit kicking and cheering for the three-pointer, Jordan running down the court covered by an incredibly fast guy with white hair, Mak still waiting in thee snack line, and Calvin up in the bleachers eyes fixed on his laptop. Lily was flirting with some guy by the water fountain, Zac was watching the game, and then Cami and Todd were coming in the door. Yeah, we'd be ok.  
  
(A/N: And so we meet three of the nine originals so far in this story. If you didn't figure it out Keith/Electro conducts electricity through his hands and has to wear rubber gloves to not shock everything he touches, Jewels/Mimic copies powers through sight, the blue glasses obscure the image of the person so her power is controlled, and we briefly met Mak (Makenzie)/Chameleon. More about her later and we'll also meet: Jordan/TNT, Angela/Pixie, Calvin/Techno, Lily/Ivy, and Zac/Techno.) 


	4. Don't Touch the Cake or the Suave

Chapter Four: Don't touch the Cake or Suave  
  
Disclaimer: to remind you all, I own not a thing but my characters.  
  
"Ok, ok, Keith, just stop singing!" I chuckled as the senior sang another line of 'We Are the Champions'. "Here's the popcorn, now shut up." I shoved it at him and he smiled taking a handful. "Though it was mine first."  
  
"You mean it was that guy's first, just got out of the line," he swallowed the mouthful of popcorn he had, "and you use your temporary 'little gift' to make him want to give it to you."  
  
"I don't see you complaining."  
  
"I'm not, just saying it technically isn't yours."  
  
"It's amazing what a pretty face and telepathy can do." I smiled and glanced at the court as we wound our way to the bleachers and where the rest of our group was sitting. "Well, TNT is certainly having fun and difficulty avoiding Pietro."  
  
"Pietro?"  
  
"I did a little snooping," I admitted looking ashamed of myself, "bad girl," A pushed my head over in a mock slap. Keith just shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Anyway, that guy's a friend of Todd and Cami, he's got…. OMF!"  
  
I ran into someone having been watching Jordan and fell back and my glasses fell of. Oh shit, my glasses fell off. I closed my eyes but had caught a glimpse of the guy I'd run into. With my power, I can tell every time I look at a mutant cause something happens to tell me, like with Jean Grey I felt a slight wave over my brain that told me just what the power was, and how to use it. That's what I do, copy powers and the level of control the person I copied them from. This time a tremor went trough my body, not like one anyone could see, but just one I could feel and I immediately knew the power… earth manipulation.  
  
"Hey, watch where you're going!" Keith, being the 'big brother over protective' one of the group, immediately got in the guys face. Ok, time for a mental scan of this guy.  
  
"Hey, look, I'm sorry ok, just back off." As I was handed my sunglasses not by Electro but by the guy who ran into me, Lance, I found that that wasn't his personality. I also found that Xavier had started to take a hold of this guy's mind. Fortunately it was weak enough to break with my current level and the moment my eyes were safe to be opened I placed a hand on the side of his head and smiled.  
  
"Thanks, I need these." Out of my personality, but somehow touching him gave a stronger link thingy whatever it was and I managed to break Xavier's hold. Pretty good for just a copycat.  
  
"Your welcome." He stood up and faced Keith. "And you, it's none of your business so why don't you just back off ok?"  
  
"Considering Jewels is my friend, her business is my business." No it wasn't.  
  
"Well maybe she doesn't want you to be in her business." I was beginning to regret breaking that hold, the two looked ready to beat each other to pulps. Just then the crowd broke into cheers and I saw that Bayville had gotten three points tying them with Riverside.  
  
"Woah, hold it boys." I sprang up between them taking the distraction to slap them both. I won't admit that I enjoyed it but I'd always wanted to slap Keith when he got over protective. "No worth fighting or arguing and if you really want to take it outside."  
  
"Not worth my time anyway," Lance grumbled and turned, immediately being pounced by Cami. Todd and their big friend were behind her.  
  
"How long does it take to park a stupid jeep?" Cami demanded looking up at him. "We got you a hot dog, but Fred ate it. We weren't sure if you wanted it with everything on it so we got you ketchup and mustard, fortunately I remembered you don't like relish, not that I blame you, but now it really doesn't matter because you took so long we could no longer guard your dinner from Fred."  
  
"Ok, which one of you got her a soda?" Todd immediately pointed to Fred who shrugged.  
  
"I think she's interesting this way."  
  
"Yeah, totally out of character, yo, but interesting." Todd replied with a shrug. I didn't hear the rest of the conversation because Keith grabbed my arm and dragged me away from the scene.  
  
1 X  
  
"Angela, drop the cake now!" I looked over my magazine at Ivy and Chameleon ganging up on the poor girl who'd been dumped and was trying to see if food would make it better.  
  
"Why can't you leave me alone?" Angela, or Pixie, whined curling up with the cake on the couch. "Neither of you have ever had a boyfriend to dump or mourn over."  
  
"Mourn over?" Lily looked confused at Mak and the brunette disappeared into the background. Lily stepped back and watched the girl looking around on the couch for Chameleon. Suddenly the cake was shoved into Angela's face and I went back to reading my magazine.  
  
"HOW DARE YOU!" Angela whipped cake off her face and took after the two older girls... and here we went again. "GET BACK HERE!" I put my reading material on my lap and watched as the ran across the living room and Mak disappeared while Lily earned her code name Ivy by making the ivy that decorated the railing and around the windows to restrain Pixie. All this was tinted blue by my glasses that kept me from being able to do such things also.  
  
"Come on, you three, no powers in the house." Jordan came up from the guy's room in the basement and shook his head. "Nice face mask, by the way, Anne." The living fairy started to thrash in the vine, dragonfly wings pressing out from her shoulder blades, the reason she wore shirts low in the back and she started to flap wildly.  
  
"Aw darn it!" Came from downstairs. "That's no fair, my concentration was broken." It was Calvin whining now, probably about being beaten at a video game.  
  
"Well, you're loss, you're using your powers anyway." That was Zac. Why those two ever played video games together was beyond me. They both cheated too. Calvin would use his mechanical manipulation and Zac would slow time just for Calvin and beat up on him. Everyone in the house had long ago learned to ignore the games they played.  
  
"Children, children!" Irene made her way from her room to where we could all hear her. "Do you want me to bring back the no powers in the house rule?"  
  
"No, but they were going to take my cake away!"  
  
"You seemed so good at the game, Anne, what happened?" Jordan 'tsked' waving his finger at her.  
  
"You try smiling and being hyper for that long now let me down!" With a nod from Irene Lily retracted the vines and Angela drew in her wings.  
  
"I expect when we move you will all be much more behaved." Irene put her hands on her hips. Her cane swishing back and forth in her hand.  
  
"Move?" I dropped my magazine onto my lap and stood up making it fall to the brown carpeted floor. "Who ever said we were moving?"  
  
"Our founder, she wants us in Bayville now that you and Keith exposed us to the X-men."  
  
"Aw, for all they know we were random freaks." I shrugged turning around to knock on the window to get Keith's attention. He was outside powering up the electric car he'd gotten. Saved a lot of money considering we never had to pay or take a long time to recharge it. Its power source was its driver.  
  
"Don't we have any say in this?" Jordan demanded. He, Keith, and I were the oldest and usually spoke for the group about big decisions. Only reason I was in it was probably because I was the oldest of the girls.  
  
"Meet Raven and I in my room in five minutes, then we'll hear your reasons."  
  
  
  
It was Monday, again, if there was thing I hated it was Mondays. I liked being able to sleep in. Mondays I never got to, unless of course I could ignore the Toad bouncing on me along with the growing wind around me. I tried to, believe me I did try.  
  
"Come on, Fred, get up, my eyes are starting to hurt!" Cami complained focusing a strong stream of wind at me. "GET UP!" Lately, we'd all gotten use to her. After Lance snapped out of what Pietro called his "X- men happy state" she'd been just about the only one to calm him down when he got worked out with out making a big scene.  
  
"Ah, Cami, watch where you're aiming!" I opened one eye to see Todd splat into the wall.  
  
"Opps, sorry Todd." Cami stopped her attack and went to poking me. "Come on, we're going to be late for school! I know it sucks, but still… there's got to be a reason to go!"  
  
"CAUSE I SAID SO!" And a small tremor rippled under the house.  
  
"Ok, come on Fred before Lance goes homicidal or something on us all. You know he could probably take out this whole block if he wanted to."  
  
"Lance going homicidal, now there's an interesting thought," commented Todd rubbing his chin while pondering.  
  
"Ugh, no." I decided to get up before they started off on their own conversation. Just this weekend they started talking about how aliens had abducted Lance, the reason for his personality change. "I'm up ok?"  
  
"Ok, oh there might not be much of breakfast left." Cami dodged out the door before I could react. Why did everyone think I was obsessed with food? Sure I liked it and needed a large amount to keep me satiated, but my weight was my mutation. I got dressed and trudged into the kitchen. There was enough food left to sustain me till I got to school. I had just sat down when another crisis hit.  
  
"Pietro, you've been using my soap!"  
  
"I have not."  
  
Cami grabbed the collar of his shirt and smelled him before pushing him back. "Then why do you smell like a fresh spring breeze?"  
  
"Cami, it's soap, it's self cleaning," Lance sighed going to grab his bag.  
  
"Well, consider the last thing I washed and the first thing he washed. Let me guess, you used my Suave shampoo and conditioner too." There was no answer. "You used my Suave!"  
  
"Yes, but it's like a whole new world. The scrubs and the smelly stuff…" Pietro paused for a second. "Plus, feel how soft my hair is."  
  
"I'd rather not." Cami let out a long breath and shook her head. "Let's just go to school, and you can explain to everyone why you smell fruity."  
  
Lance grabbed his keys and went out the door calling over his shoulder, "Yeah, let's MOVE IT!"  
  
2 X  
  
"Cami, why are you doing your science homework just now?" Lance asked tapping his plastic fork against his plate.  
  
"Because I didn't get it done last night and it's my last class of the day," she replied writing with her right hand and eating with her left. "What should it matter anyway, we're learning about weather, yay!" She rolled her eyes and kept working.  
  
"What did you put for the 'what makes wind?' question?" I asked looking over at her. I was in class with her since I knew nothing about science.  
  
"I just rambled on until I got so much the teacher can't figure out if I got it right or wrong."  
  
"I don't think that's going to be very effective," Todd put in.  
  
"I could put me, but that wouldn't be very effective either."  
  
"Very true."  
  
(A/N: Gak, I'm getting writer's block, please bare with me, I promise it'll get better *crosses her fingers*) 


	5. THAT'S IT?

I looked at my brother who was leaning back in the driver's seat of the green jeep thinking. I had no clue what was wrong, but there was something. We were waiting for Fred and Todd to probably pull Pietro away from a mirror or something and I finally asked three words that would complicate my life even further.  
  
"What's wrong, Dom?" I still called him by his name sometimes, it was how I knew him.  
  
"You really want to know?" I nodded silently. "My history teacher, Mr. Coux, started talking about how we're entering a new age where men will have to fight to keep their freedom. We were discussing world war two and the holocaust and someone brought up if that was wrong was what was happening to some mutants was wrong. He said no, that mutants weren't human and that to protect humans they had to be controlled." He frowned. "It was the new kid who asked, I think his name was Joe or Jordan or something, the whole class agreed except him, me, and Scott."  
  
I shook my head disgusted with those other seniors who'd agreed. "There are also people who think humans and mutants can coexist."  
  
"Yeah, but with the Friends of Humanity coming up I'm thinking maybe we should join with Xavier and the X-men, might be the only place we're safe."  
  
I shook my head furiously knowing I was told not to tell him but fighting with myself because he was my brother and if he did decide to join the X-men, well, that could end up disastrous. "No," I snapped, "Xavier isn't what he seems." I just got looked at strangely and wondered how I could tell him this. As long as he thought someone was going for us it was ok, right? Oh, life was getting way too confusing to keep track of everything.  
  
"What do you mean, Cami?" He turned to look at me and blinked a couple of times.  
  
"What she means is," Electro, easily identified and remembered by the yellow bleached bangs that fell in his face and black rubber gloves leaned against the hood of the jeep and looked at Lance, "Xavier isn't up to any good."  
  
"Get off my car, what's your face, you weren't welcome at the game you aren't welcome here." Lance got out of the car and I quickly followed not even opening the door. I landed funky on my ankle and fell but got up and put my weight on the other foot.  
  
"Hey, our guardian just decided to move us here since it was such a 'lovely little town'." He rolled his eyes at that and stood up away from the jeep. Why were they here? Had something I said to Mystique brought them to Bayville?  
  
"You still aren't welcome." My brother snapped looking really pissed at Electro, or his real name had been Keith hadn't it?  
  
"Am I?" I glanced back to see 'the less deadly version of Rogue' smiling at Lance in a bit of an impish way.  
  
"Not if you slap me again," he muttered and Keith was immediately between the two.  
  
"Look, where are the rest of the 'brotherhood'. We don't have time to mess around and Raven wants to see you guys." He and Lance did not like each other, any idiot could tell that, even Daniels.  
  
"Raven?" It took a moment for him to remember that Raven was in fact Mystique. "Tell her to forget it, she abandoned us so now we're abandoning her."  
  
"Lance…."  
  
"Stay out of it, Cami."  
  
"How about that history teacher?" It was a guy I didn't recognize but Lance seemed to. "What a jerk huh? Friends of Humanity, they're acting like we're bombs!"  
  
"Uh," out of no where a girl appeared fading into view, "Jordan? You kind of are."  
  
"Quiet, Mak, no one asked your opinion."  
  
Lance was looking extremely confused and myself, since I knew two of them, really didn't care much.  
  
"Ok, Alvers, who are your friends?" And cue Scott to complicate things. There he was with Rogue, who looked like she just wanted to go home, and Daniels who was looking for Pietro to continue their stupid little feud.  
  
"You want to know who we are?" Keith cracked his knuckles and smirked, for not liking each other he and Lance seemed a like.  
  
"I believe that's why he asked." I looked behind me and saw Jean with Kurt and Kitty.  
  
"It's our first day, we don't want a fight, ok?" Too bad Mak wasn't visible anymore and Mimic was…. somewhere. Suddenly Daniles got his legs knocked from under him and Mimic appeared, glasses off, and looking directly at Rogue. "Or maybe we do, can never tell."  
  
"Rogue, drop her," Scott ordered and Rogue turned around yanking off a glove and pressed her hand against Mimic's cheek. Mimic yawned and put her glasses back on.  
  
"This was predicted, decided to try it out." Mimic sauntered around Rogue and away from the girl's hand. "Copying your power makes the two cancel each other out." She grinned and placed her hand taking off her own, finger-less gloves for Rogue to touch. Rogue was stunned that she could actually touch someone.  
  
"Rogue," Scott snapped as Daniels fought with an invisible girl and Kurt ported over to help him. "Rogue!"  
  
"Summers, she hasn't been able to touch anyone since her powers emerged," Lance snapped, "so why don't you back off of her?'  
  
Scott mumbled and pushed Lance out of the way more than irate. He looked directly at me. "Who is this anyway?" This was not Scott, I could tell that. "Some new little bit…"  
  
"She's my sister!" Lance yelled getting right in Scott's face. "I'm not going to have you picking on her or anything. So take your little freaks and leave!"  
  
"We aren't freaks anymore than you are, and since when do you have a sister?" So Keith and Lance had stopped their testosterone battle for Lance and Scott to start one, wonderful.  
  
"Since I was three, that answer your question?" I climbed back into the jeep to wait for them to get tired and leave. I could see Todd and Fred coming, Pietro suddenly next to me asking what was going on.  
  
"We were waiting for you and Electro over there wanted us to go see Mystique but Lance didn't want to go and then Scott and the X-geeks came and this happened." I waved my hand at the scene and looked uninterested.  
  
"Oh, ok." Pietro say something invisible beating his rival up and shrugged. "So how was your day?"  
  
"Pretty much…" And at that moment there was a large explosion and I whipped my head around to see dust from something and a rock from the edge of the parking lot hovering in the air. Suddenly the rock exploded without warning and I covered my eyes from the dust. It seemed to have made everyone stop.  
  
"This is not what we want," a very angry Jordan growled. So that's why Mak had called his a bomb. "We want to be normal! Mak, show yourself and stop beating the poor boys up!" Mak appeared and frowned crossing her arms and keeping an eye on Evan and Kurt.  
  
"He's right," Keith muttered. He hadn't made any move to take his gloves off and seemed pretty calm. "It was going to be fun beating you guys up, but oh well. We aren't allowed to touch the German guy anyway."  
  
"You can't just…" Scott didn't get any more out as Mimic placed her bare hand on his and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. Then she took his shades and put them on.  
  
"Ok, I know you can't hear me, but you're screwed up," Jewels said to the passed out Scott. "Can we go home now? I got a headache."  
  
"You can't just…"  
  
"You want to be next, Jeanie girl? Wow, you're a bitch you know that. I almost feel sorry for Scott… almost." Everyone else didn't move as the girl with now red shades started away grabbing Electro's had and t he Jordan's careful not to touch their skin. "You five, come with us or I'll drop y'all and take ya with me!"  
  
"C'mon, Todd," I hopped out of the jeep again and we followed them as Chameleon hit Evan one last time and joined her friends.  
  
"Ah, what the hell, come on Fred, if it gets us away from the X- geeks." Pietro was immediately beside me and Fred's shadow was coming up on us.  
  
Then I stopped and turned around. "Lance?"  
  
He stared at us for a while, amazingly the conscious X-men not making a move since we were backing off. "Move it Pryde," he told Kitty walking passed her and hooking his arm around my neck. "Come on, Shrimp, but we're only going there to listen."  
  
"It's not to much to explain, all Raven wants is to help us have normal lives," Chameleon explained looking back. The others nodded. "Sometimes it's like an after school special gone horribly wrong."  
  
"Hey, you get…" Jean started, but Mimic turned around and lowered the red shades to shoot a narrow red beam at her feet.  
  
"Um… my jeep." Lance looked back and I wiggled out of his grasp.  
  
"We can get it later, walking won't hurt ya guys," Keith put his hands behind his head and the four took turns telling us everything and anything they knew. Then we stepped into the door of a large house painted light gray with green trim and door. It was two stories and in a normal neighborhood. Not shabby, not a mansion, but an actually normal house.  
  
Inside the house wasn't as normal. In the living room a girl with reddish brown hair lying on her stomach watching the TV, normal except for the marvelous dragonfly wings on her back. A blonde with red highlights was concentrating on the ivy decorating the wall and it slowly crept over the white painted wood. Then in the dining room I could see Mystique talking with a woman with black glasses on and a cane resting on the table by her.  
  
"We're home, Irene," Jordan called bounding into the kitchen and stopping in front of the woman.  
  
"I know that Jordan, Raven…"  
  
Mystique stood up and walked into the hallway and smiling gently at Lance, Pietro, Fred, and Todd. "Welcome home boys."  
  
(A/N: And cue credits! Also cue the audience gapping and going 'that was it'? Sort of I did at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring. Don't fret my adoring admirers. More, better stories to come!) 


End file.
